Togami Byakuya and the Challenging Childhood
by Kakaranaya
Summary: the competition to be the Togami heir; rated T for language later on
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Bya-kun!"

The young Togami Byakuya looked up from the thick leather book he was reading. Oh, what could _he_ want? the young boy thought disdainfully. He didn't have time for the royal drop out.

Togami Yoshi. Age 16. Failing every subject except lunch and how to look like a total dunce in front of mediocre-looking girls. Togami and his half-sisters and half-brothers liked to call him the 'royal dropout' since he was apparently the love child of their father and some underage princess of an obscure country.

He was, unfortunately, the oldest Togami, so he naturally had a leg up in the competition to become heir of the Togami Group. Togami had to put up with him for now, in case he needed the benefit of his age later.

"Hi, Yoshi-nii!" Gag. "What do you need?" Hopefully doesn't need him to act like an adoring little brother to impress some girl who can't even count to two. You'd think he'd learn that it doesn't work after five failed attempts.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Bya-kun. You've always been my favorite sibling. I know you don't have a chance of ever becoming an heir, but I think you could definitely help out a lot when I become head. I'm going to talk to dad about letting you stay in the family!"

Yoshi becoming head.

What a joke.

"Sounds great, Yoshi-nii!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Sorry that I haven't updated in so long! I plan on uploading two more chapters this weekend, if time permits, since I won't have much time to write again.

* * *

School has always been ridiculously easy for Togami; no one in his prestigious family would be caught dead without being able to do simple schoolwork. In their family, the competition consisted of three major things: one's school grades, strategy skills, and business skills. School grades were never really a factor with everyone in the family with everyone in the family pulling straight perfect scores (with the exception of Yoshi), so Togami often used the time required to spend in an overly expensive private school with a bunch of snot nosed children to think of his next endeavor in the competition to become heir.

Except today.

This new transfer girl was different. She was obviously above it all but acted as if she was just the same as everyone. She was from Russia but spoke fluent English, Japanese, Chinese, and even Tamil at the age of ten. She had been winning national science competitions ever since she was in first grade. Her IQ was probably higher than his, he hated to admit.

Perhaps she could be of some sort of use to him. Perhaps she just had a special charisma. Either way,no one has ever interested Togami more than her.


	3. Chapter 3

Step 1: Acquire a strategic position that is also out of sight.

Check.

Step 2: Have Takeshi's pet ferret slightly sedated and locked up in a portable cage.

Check.

Step 3: Wait.

Togami watched his third eldest brother, Togami Takeshi, from the slightly wilting fern in the corner of the Togami meeting room. Today, Takeshi was to negotiate a contract between the Togami family's company and their long time rivals, Nakamura Inc.

Takeshi was a genius. Not only did he excel in math, foreign languages, and history, he was a business prodigy. Their father paid for special classes to be set up in Takeshi's high school about business, trade, and economics solely for Takeshi's good.

Their father caught pneumonia last week and was still bedridden, so he put all his trust in his favorite son.

Takeshi was a major obstacle in becoming the Togami heir, but Togami Byakuya had found Takeshi's weak spot.

His obsession with ferrets.

Togami had always found it odd, but Takeshi always had kept at least one pet ferret. The pet ferret he currently had was named Charles XII, named after ferrets Charles I through Charles XI. Charles isn't even a Japanese name. His brother, despite being brilliant, was always a bit off.

His obsession with ferrets ended up being quite convenient for Togami, however. After a bit of researching, he had discovered the head of Nakamura Inc. was severely allergic to any type of rodent. If he could just get the ferret to brush against Nakamura's pant leg, crawl into his lap, anything… Takeshi would be out of the competition.

"Nakamura-san! How nice to finally meet you," Takeshi said, firmly grasping the older man's hand and shaking it.

"Likewise, Togami-san. I hear your father is sick?"

"Yes, he asked me to take over today's negotiations. Don't worry, I've familiarized myself with everything in the contract and our two companies' policies and goals."

"You sound like such a responsible boy, I bet you're a shoe in for the next heir," Nakamura chuckled. Togami clenched his fingers around the lock on the cage. _Not for long, but not yet…_

The two representatives and their posses sat down at the table for what seemed like forever talking about subjects that should have clearly been settled before either party set foot in the meeting room. Togami fell himself drifting off…

"So, if that's everything, I'd just like you to sign and initial here…" Togami woke up with a start at the sound of his brother's triumphant voice. This was it. He unlocked the cage and opened the wired door without so much as a _creak_. The ferret darted out and ran immediately up Nakamura's pant leg. Togami quietly retreated into the air vent the fern was hiding, but even while returning the cage to it's normal place and heading back to his room, he could still hear the yelling and distressed, "Nakamura-san, are you alright? Do you need an ambulance?"

One down, 13 more to go.


	4. Chapter 4

The transfer girl's blonde hair brushed the table as she leaned over and furiously wrote their lab conclusion.

Togami and Momo Rusakov had been paired up for today's lab, which was measuring the volume of various irregularly shaped items using a graduated cylinder, water, and a calculator. Togami was used to completely doing the labs on his own while his partner went off and mingled with other groups, but this time, Momo seemed genuinely concerned about the volumes of things that were just going to be thrown away or stored for next year after this class. They were done within the first fifteen minutes, a record Togami knew that he couldn't currently break if he tried.

No matter, he needed to plan out what he'd do about his next target, Togami Yui, his artistically talented sister. She didn't seem to have any concerns or worries about the competition; it was like she didn't care at all. Still, Togami thought that was just a farce and felt he needed to plan out an elaborate-but-foolproof plan.

The only things he could use against her was her incessant need to paint a new picture every day using her stupid water colors she wouldn't shut up about.

"'Ways to defeat my stupid water color loving sister'…?" Momo said, gazing down at the sheet of paper on his desk from behind.

"What are you doing looking at other people's things?" Togami said. Momo looked at him with expecting eyes but didn't ask any further questions.

Instead, she added, "Well, if she loves water colors so much, maybe try adding potassium permanganate to the water she uses with painting." Togami looked at her, utterly confused. What on earth is potassium permanganate?

Momo didn't add anything else until she noticed Togami's baffled expression. "Oh, potassium permanganate is an ionic compound. It reacts really well with glycerin, which is in a lot of water color paints. It'll smoke and cause a small fire, so if you do add potassium permanganate, you probably shouldn't add that much…"

"Ah, thanks…" Togami said, a bit off put that he had to actually have help. If he did this enough, then his sister wouldn't be able to paint. She'd be completely crushed.

"Yeah, no problem. Anyways, Togami, can I ask you something?"

"I'll decide whether or not I answer after I hear it, but it's your choice."

"…Right, anyways, why do you always hang out by yourself?"

"Explain."

Momo pulled up a chair, so she could sit next to Togami. "I always see people trying to reach out to you and stuff, like I guess I'm doing now, but you always shoot them down. I just want to know why. Don't you ever get lonely?"

Togami couldn't think of a response. Why wasn't he ever lonely? He'd never really thought about friends before. He didn't really care about what the others did or thought. He still doesn't, but is that weird?

He cleared his throat before saying, "I don't deem that worthy of answering."

Momo looked at him for a solid minute before bursting out laughing, causing the whole classroom to jump and turn around and stare. She smiled and waved at them awkwardly and turned back to Togami. "You're pretty weird, but you don't realize it. That's pretty interesting. I'll hang out with you from now on."


	5. Chapter 5

"You needn't follow me around, you do realize that right?"

"Ah, but Bya-kun, you're so cute and tiny~! Little brothers need to be looked after, anyways!"

"You two are only one year older than me!"

Togami Ryuko and Ryoko. Two fake blonde twins with too much make up and too much free time. Their father hadn't even acknowledged them as eligible to become heir, so Togami had no interest in them whatsoever. However, they deemed him "absolutely adorable" and try to baby them whenever they see him.

"Hey, Bya-kun! Come eat with us!" They resemble Yoshi to a T.

"No, I have homework."

"Awh, c'mon! It'll only be for a few minutes! We'll even help you with your homework!"

"Like you even cou-"

"I think it's a great idea, eating all together!" Yoshi cut Togami off, slinging an arm around his shoulder and ruffling his hair.

"Yoshi-nii, although I'd love to, I really can't…" Togami said, instantly changing his tone.

"Because homework, right? You're ten years old, you shouldn't be worrying about homework! Come!" Yoshi took Togami's arm and dragged him to the dining room with Ryuko and Ryoko squealing behind him.

'Well, _that_ was torturous…' Togami thought as he flopped onto his bed an hour later. Ryuko and Ryoko kept trying to feed him, and Yoshi did nothing but talk about himself while the twins acted impressed…

That's it! If Yoshi doesn't think anyone is impressed with him anymore, he'll lose all of his confidence… If he's not too dense to realize no one's listening…

Togami put his hands over his face. Yoshi is so utterly _stupid_. How can it be so hard to at least take him down a notch to at least be on equal grounds with him in the eyes of their father? A tear leaked out of Togami's eye. His father never had any faith in Togami at all; he didn't want to get kicked out of the family… It was like he's not even in the competition at all…

But he is. Propping himself up with an elbow, he grabbed his laptop and started an email.

TO: Momo Rusakov

SUBJECT: Ways to Defeat My Arrogant, Flirtatious, Idiotic Older Brother

Any ideas?

-Togami Byakuya


	6. Chapter 6

"Wait, so explain this whole thing. Why are you so obsessed with outdoing your siblings, anyways?" Momo said, momentarily taking her red lollipop out of her mouth.

She had refused to help him until he told her everything, in person. She claimed that most people aren't obsessed with competing with their siblings to such an extent and made him promise that he'd tell her everything the next day at school. As they sat together at the far end of a lunch table, Togami tried to ignore the incredulous looks from his classmates and ignore the whispered _'Togami finally isn't chasing someone away? Someone's actually attempting to talk to him and not running away? How odd!'_

"It's some family tradition, not that _you'd_ understand-" Togami started.

"Hey, if you want me to help you, you better be nice to me."

"…Point taken. Have you at least heard of the Togami family?"

"Of course. My papa actually did business with them once. So you're related to all of them! I had no idea!"

"Yeah, well, I might not be for long. Short version of what's going on is that all the children of the current leader of the business have to compete to be heir. Everyone who loses is kicked out of the family and is regarded as dead, but the one winner is awarded with the promise of power and money that most people couldn't even imagine. From the moment this person wins, he or she is already one of the most successful people in the world, basically."

He had never told anyone that before, but, for some reason, he's glad he did. Everything feels much… lighter. It somehow felt as if everything was okay. He couldn't hide the small smile plastered on his face. He lifted his eyes to see Momo's expression…

She looked completely bored.

"What? No shock? Concern? Nothing?"

Momo twirled the lollipop in her mouth for a few seconds. "I mean, it sounds like all you have to do is win, if you care that much, but I think that's a terrible tradition. Do you really want to be a part of that? You could always, I don't know, go against the system?"

He had expected a response like this. For as smart as she was, she was dense. So very dense. She obviously couldn't imagine ever living in a world like his. It was such a foreign concept to her. Being banished from a family was something that only happened to angsty book characters. He shouldn't have told her. A commoner like her wouldn't be able to comprehend what he's been through, let alone help.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to just _win_? I'm the youngest! No one expects anything from me! They don't care one way or the other about me! I have to be extraordinary, sabotage everyone, and even then, my chances are slim…" Togami's voice had risen to a quiet yell, attracting the attention of a few of the students closer to them and earning a pained and sympathetic look on Momo's face, but he couldn't help it. He was angry. At her and at himself.

"Then prove them wrong. I said I'd help if you told me what was going on, and I will. Trust me, with our brains working together, you'll definitely win, so please don't stress anymore than you already are. It's not healthy. Except, I'm sure I'd be the same way if there was a good chance I'd be kicked out of my own family…" Momo gave Togami a serious look. "I can't really imagine what's going on in your home life, but I can tell it's probably something I shouldn't really talk about with you. I'll probably end up saying something wrong, like usual."

She gave him a big smile, exposing three open gaps where her adult teeth were growing in. "I'm glad you told me all of this, though. You really need to get all of that stress out of your system somehow. My mama always said that stress makes you go bald, and your hair is really different for someone who's Japanese! It'd be a shame to lose it."

"Thanks. I think." Togami smiled back at her; how could he not? She was so completely ordinary, aside from being brilliantly book smart. This ordinary was comforting though, sort of like waking up an hour before your alarm goes off in the morning and going back to sleep. He supposed he could try having a friend, just this once.


End file.
